NBrid

I personally have never been too great a fan of Everclear, but that isn't stopping me from being tickled pink that my girlfriend convinced me to go to their show tonight.

Firstly, I'd like to just get this out of the way - I do not hate Everclear. I actually think they're pretty good, they're just not one of my favorite bands. Now, onto the goings on of the night.

The venue was First Avenue, a minneapolis joint that's pretty popular with touring bands that want to stay out of an arena type show. It's pretty small, but it was plenty packed by the time Everclear came on.

The opening band was one that I'd never heard of before tonight, called Longshot. They consisted of three male guitarists, a male on lead vocals, and a female on drums. The drummer was the shining grace of this band. I knew when we saw them taking the stage that she had to be someone special, you don't see many chick drummers in alt-punk-rock bands to my knowledge. Their music was very driven by massive beats, killer rhythm, and awesome guitarist collaboration. The vocalist wasn't so bad, either.

The second band that ventured onto stage and into the loving embrace of the now pumped crowd was The Exies. I had never heard of this band to my knowledge, but it turns out that I have heard their singls "My Goddess" somewhere or another. Well, regardless of whether I knew them or not, their set kicked major ass. It was the shining point of the evening. Every song had an amazing feel to it, as they were pounded relentlessly into your ears with heavy, delicious sounding drums. The guitar and bass did an excellent job as well, delivering catchy little riffs that you could really bang your head to. And, as with Longshot, The Exies has a grand vocalist. All in all, this was fantastic. By the end of their time, they had people who'd never heard of them before, like myself, thrusting my fist into the air and singing along with their regular fans.

Finally, the main event was upon us - Everclear. As previously stated, they aren't really the greatest band to me, but their set was really good. They played for a good hour and a half, as opposed to the opening bands' 30 and 45 minutes on stage. They played a lot of their hit singles and fan favorites. Everyone, and I mean everyone literally, was enjoying their show. They didn't seem to have the energy as the previous bands, but it was okay. They pulled off a pretty good show in the end, and I found myself jumping and fist-pumping along with everyone else by the end of the night.

So it all boils down to this - This show kicked ass. It was my first at First Avenue, and I loved it. Although I came out smelling like Miller Lite and Marlboro, the music was so fantastic. It was definitely worth the $20 ticket (Yeah, that's not a typo, the tickets were only $20), and is a value that I would suggest any fans of Everclear or their genre of music take advantage of.